"We have now reached the point where every goon with a grievance, every bitter bigot, merely has to place the prefix, 'I know this is not politically correct, but...' in front of the usual string of insults in order to be not just safe from criticism, but actually a card, a lad, even a hero. Conversely, to talk about poverty and inequality, to draw attention to the reality that discrimination and injustice are still facts of life, is to commit the sin of political correctness. Anti-PC has become the latest cover for creeps. It is a godsend for every curmudgeon and crank, from fascists to the merely smug."Finian O'Toole, The Irish Times, 5 May 1994

Re: Countdown to Inferno: Fiction Teasers

You know what would be awesome to see? A story about first contact between the GTVA and the EA. All I remember about it in the first Inferno is that a GTVA fleet went in, the EA blasted them and immediately charged through Sol Gate.

"A weapon is only as powerful as its wielder. With this weapon, you'll be but an annoyance, which would greatly dishonor it. With this weapon, I can change history. With me, this weapon can shape the universe."

Re: Countdown to Inferno: Fiction Teasers

You know what would be awesome to see? A story about first contact between the GTVA and the EA. All I remember about it in the first Inferno is that a GTVA fleet went in, the EA blasted them and immediately charged through Sol Gate.

"We have now reached the point where every goon with a grievance, every bitter bigot, merely has to place the prefix, 'I know this is not politically correct, but...' in front of the usual string of insults in order to be not just safe from criticism, but actually a card, a lad, even a hero. Conversely, to talk about poverty and inequality, to draw attention to the reality that discrimination and injustice are still facts of life, is to commit the sin of political correctness. Anti-PC has become the latest cover for creeps. It is a godsend for every curmudgeon and crank, from fascists to the merely smug."Finian O'Toole, The Irish Times, 5 May 1994

Minister-in-Chief Marcos Ienou swept his arm over the packed Plaza. Twenty-meter-tall statues of soldiers and ships towered over the crowd. Claymores from the Nemesis’s CAP buzzed and wheeled in parade patterns. After sharing a glance with his fellow Ministers standing on the air-conditioned balcony, the rail-thin EA head of state tapped his glasses.

5 billion live views. None of the networks would dare miss this, even the Jovians’. A grin flickered over the politician’s well-practiced stolid expression. Like it or not, this is our new era.

“Loyal citizens of Earth. Throughout these decades of fratricide in Sol, you have stood with us, as we sought a lasting peace with honor! Of our Navy, what can I say? The Coalition had decades to prepare their stab in the back, but you shattered their outdated hulls and crushed their ambitions! Soldiers of our Army, you fought across the battlefields of a dozen worlds; then you stood your watch on long occupation tours guiding liberated planets toward peace, all the while enduring the slings and arrows of our misguided brethren. Our men and women, rise to your feet!”

“Retirees who volunteered for war desk jobs. Bureaucrats who worked extra hours to keep our overstrained logistics flowing. Civilians who took shelter as Coalition bombs blasted your homes apart, and who then scrubbed fallout and restored infrastructure. All of you stood proud in our time of need. Stay on your feet – you have earned your pride!”

A picked section of Civilian Medal recipients rose to their feet. But around them in the packed stands, more followed in an uncoordinated surge of rippling emotion. Soon, almost the entire crowd was on their feet.

Public Ministry didn’t even script that last part. But who would I be to turn down a spontaneous display of patriotism? After groaning under my war tax regime, they deserve this chance to stand up. He stifled a dry chuckle.

Ienou gestured to a group of Jovian prisoners-of-war, wearing their own dress reds and cordoned off from the glances and insults of the crowd. The Minister-in-Chief let a note of dignified compassion slip into his oratory. “Our brothers, formerly of the Jovian Coalition, rise to your feet! Though misguided by your leaders, you fought with courage for your majestic planet- now stand hand-in-hand with all eight worlds of Sol.”

After a few moments of nervously glancing and whispering at each other, most of the Jovians rose to their feet. A few defiantly remained seated.

No, I won’t dignify your resistance with attention. Your backstabbing government is now consigned to the pages of history; may it stay there!

Hardly missing a beat, he next spread his arms to embrace the crowd.

First, the kindly father-figure...

“Now, for the first time in decades, Terrans across Sol can sleep in their beds, without fearing explosive decompressions or tanks rumbling through their streets. Return to your lives. The Interior Ministry is already at work preparing aid packages for the most-affected worlds, and the Economics Ministry is laying the groundwork for inter-Solar economic exchange and shared prosperity.”

Half of those tanks were ours, but better ours than the Jovians’.

Ienou's tone turned strident, amplified by the Plaza’s sound system. “But do not let your knees buckle and turn weak! The Shivans still lurk in the great beyond, and we know not what other threats we will face, from outside – or, our heritage forbid, from within. Let us all preserve this lasting peace we have won!”

“We are Sol! We are the Earth Alliance! And WE STAND!”

“WE STAND! WE STAND! WE STAND! WE STAND!”

Ienou wiped his brow again, drinking in the scene before him. As the sound system fell silent, he cut off the other Ministers' congratulations.

For now, all Sol speaks with one voice. Just treasure this moment while it lasts.

"We have now reached the point where every goon with a grievance, every bitter bigot, merely has to place the prefix, 'I know this is not politically correct, but...' in front of the usual string of insults in order to be not just safe from criticism, but actually a card, a lad, even a hero. Conversely, to talk about poverty and inequality, to draw attention to the reality that discrimination and injustice are still facts of life, is to commit the sin of political correctness. Anti-PC has become the latest cover for creeps. It is a godsend for every curmudgeon and crank, from fascists to the merely smug."Finian O'Toole, The Irish Times, 5 May 1994

"We have now reached the point where every goon with a grievance, every bitter bigot, merely has to place the prefix, 'I know this is not politically correct, but...' in front of the usual string of insults in order to be not just safe from criticism, but actually a card, a lad, even a hero. Conversely, to talk about poverty and inequality, to draw attention to the reality that discrimination and injustice are still facts of life, is to commit the sin of political correctness. Anti-PC has become the latest cover for creeps. It is a godsend for every curmudgeon and crank, from fascists to the merely smug."Finian O'Toole, The Irish Times, 5 May 1994

Re: Countdown to Inferno: Fiction Teasers

I wonder how good the Jovian Coalition is assimilated into EA when war with GTVA started? Are the Jovian territories 100% loyal to EA?

Also, discarting the Sol:A History, from the INF:A I got an impresion that EA prior to the war with Jovians was formed from formelly hostile to eachother Earth and Mars? Considering that you call Jovinas "backstabbing" does it mean that some time after original INF:A Jovians launched a sneak attack on Earth and Mars wich forsed them to become close allies?

Re: Countdown to Inferno: Fiction Teasers

The details about the various INF:A wars are so secret that even I don't know all of them yet! I'd rather get Woo's take before discussing them much further. Kept some details deliberately vague to avoid potentially contradicting our future plans for INF:A too much. I will say that the Jovians did attack the EA.

"We have now reached the point where every goon with a grievance, every bitter bigot, merely has to place the prefix, 'I know this is not politically correct, but...' in front of the usual string of insults in order to be not just safe from criticism, but actually a card, a lad, even a hero. Conversely, to talk about poverty and inequality, to draw attention to the reality that discrimination and injustice are still facts of life, is to commit the sin of political correctness. Anti-PC has become the latest cover for creeps. It is a godsend for every curmudgeon and crank, from fascists to the merely smug."Finian O'Toole, The Irish Times, 5 May 1994

Re: Countdown to Inferno: Fiction Teasers

Hesperia, Delta Serpentis, August 14, 2377 - “Heck if I know,” Thomas Ferrara told me over a staticky connection from his modest Luyten flat. The gangly, dark-haired Capella refugee took a generous sip of Aldebaran nectar before continuing. “Been bouncing around from planet to planet since Capella went nova.”

His face briefly dropped its apathetic scowl. “Suppose I’m lucky to even have a job. Spent five years on welfare before Luyten bounced back from the post-Capella crash, and Soliton Syswerks was hiring plasma techs again.”

He cradled his forehead in his hand for a couple moments, seemingly lost in thought. I was about to ask a follow-up question, when he shook his head. “But as to where WE’RE going? You tell me.”

Does anyone else have a better answer?

The General Assembly, and our benevolent overseers in the Security Council, tell us we are bound for Earth. That our untouched home will give prosperity and protection we’ve not had since before the T-V War to our adrift people. But four years in, the Gate project is already running over cost estimates, and private analytics firm Sitamun & Hollos already projects that it may take over a decade to finish.

Not to mention, the Outreach Array hasn’t detected any radio signals from Sol in its three years of operation. That can only mean two things: either our Terran brothers in Sol are too badly injured or dead to try and communicate with us, or Sol deigns not to speak with her lost children. Neither possibility signals the friendly and prosperous reunion we are hoping for.

The cynics – and worse - tell us we are headed for ruin, that the Shivans will return any day to finish what they started. But waiting for the end to come is no alternative. When and whether they come for us, better to live well in the years allotted to us, rather than cower and wait for the end to come.

Where are we going? Does the Security Council know? Do any of us know? Perhaps no destination at all is better than a headlong charge into oblivion.

"We have now reached the point where every goon with a grievance, every bitter bigot, merely has to place the prefix, 'I know this is not politically correct, but...' in front of the usual string of insults in order to be not just safe from criticism, but actually a card, a lad, even a hero. Conversely, to talk about poverty and inequality, to draw attention to the reality that discrimination and injustice are still facts of life, is to commit the sin of political correctness. Anti-PC has become the latest cover for creeps. It is a godsend for every curmudgeon and crank, from fascists to the merely smug."Finian O'Toole, The Irish Times, 5 May 1994

Re: Countdown to Inferno: Fiction Teasers

Speaking of using radio signal for inestellar communication I head interesting theory that some scientist calcualted that our typical modern radio signal would become so weak that after circa 2 light years it's become indistinguishable from normal stellar background noise. In orther worlds SETI is a stupidity similar to building a giant telescope in hope of seeing a flashligh signal from Mars. I'm quite sure that any developed civilisation would quickly scratch radio from viable long rage communication.

However from FS universe point of view it's a far more complex. I'm 100% sure that both side know the actual positions and orbits of colonized planets in both Sol and Alpha Centauri. If both sides would build and direct Arcadia size radio annatenas to eachother they would probably able to put strong enough signal to travel these 4 ly and still be in readable shape. And I think that for some time after node collapse both sides would have thousands of receivers pointed into sky in hope that someone one the other side is broadcasting.

This makes an interesting question. If only goverment-grade dedicated projects would be able sent strong enough signal they do you think that anyone actually build and broadcast it? I think that Arcadia size antena might be a fair bit cheaper that actual Arcadia stations, so it's not a bugdet killer like Collosus or The Gate. Obviously both Sol and GTA had rought economic period after node collapse where they might had other priorities, but I guess that around FS2 time both Sol and GTVA had enough resources to easily build such project.

So the are the hard questions:- it's quite obvious that GTVA would attempt to broadcast to Sol, but is Sol broadcasting to GTVA? Is it both EA and Jovians? or only victorious EA? Or victorious EA decides to enact full radio silence?- What would be the communication to eachother? do GTVA metion about official alliance with Vasuans? about NTF? About Juggernaut Armada that can blow up the star (was it the reason why EA started the Icanus project)?

Re: Countdown to Inferno: Fiction Teasers

The GTVA's been transmitting offers of reconnection and intel/tech sharing to Sol as soon as it became economically practical, as reunification has been a high priority.

Sol, on the other hand, has suffered civil dissension and fratricidal war for decades, and had neither the resources or political will to try and contact their former colonies, which they figured might've been wiped out by the Shivans by now anyway. Even after the EA unified Sol and had the breathing space to construct a relay capable of receiving the GTVA's signals, they've been suspicious of the GTVA's reunification agenda. After subduing the rest of Sol by force in a brutal war forced upon them by the Jovians, the EA is a paranoid fortress state that wants to be left alone. They have no desire to share government with their former colonies, have other budgetary priorities than constructing a transmitter, and are too paranoid of getting 14th BGed to give the GTVA any useful intel.

"We have now reached the point where every goon with a grievance, every bitter bigot, merely has to place the prefix, 'I know this is not politically correct, but...' in front of the usual string of insults in order to be not just safe from criticism, but actually a card, a lad, even a hero. Conversely, to talk about poverty and inequality, to draw attention to the reality that discrimination and injustice are still facts of life, is to commit the sin of political correctness. Anti-PC has become the latest cover for creeps. It is a godsend for every curmudgeon and crank, from fascists to the merely smug."Finian O'Toole, The Irish Times, 5 May 1994